Background on the News - 2005-10-26

Germany's recent elections have resulted in a changing of the political guard in Berlin, with one of the casualties being the charismatic foreign minister Joschka Fischer. As Andrei Markovits pointed out in Foreign Affairs in 2001, Fischer's career has tracked that of his generation: from radical activist in the 1960s, to the Green Party in the 1970s and 1980s, to full inclusion in the Establishment as cabinet member in the 1990s. Fischer's journey is of more than biographical interest, Markovits argued, for it represents "the Westernization of [Germany's] culture and the normalization of its politics."

• Full text of original essay (November/December 2001)

Related stories from cfr.org:

• CFR's Charles Kupchan says the election in Germany reflects a nation badly divided. (September 28, 2005)
• William Drozdiak, president of the American Council on Germany, who earlier called the parliamentary elections the "most important" in years, says the very close outcome portends "great instability." (September 18, 2005)

In the Current Issue of Foreign Affairs

The complete text of selected essays and of all the book reviews from the November/December issue can be found on the Foreign Affairs Web site. Currently the following essays are available in their full text:

Iraq: Learning the Lessons of Vietnam

Melvin R. Laird

During Richard Nixon's first term as president, most U.S. forces were withdrawn from Vietnam while the South's ability to defend itself was improved. Speaking out for the first time in decades, Nixon's Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird — one of the architects of those policies — argues that this approach produced a success, at least until Congress snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by cutting off funding for the South in 1975. Washington should follow a similar strategy in Iraq today, he writes in this already much-discussed article, but this time it should finish the job properly.

Who Will Control the Internet?

Kenneth Neil Cukier

Foreign governments want control of the Internet transferred from an American NGO to an international institution. Washington has responded with a Monroe Doctrine for our times, setting the stage for further controversy.

The Ethical Economist

Joseph E. Stiglitz

In a major new work, Benjamin Friedman presents a compelling moral case for growth-oriented economic policies. But even he sometimes needs reminding that the kind of growth matters as much as the amount.

Previously in Background on the News

The Last Pandemic — and the Next One
October 12, 2005
Last week's announcement that the 1918 influenza pandemic was caused by a virus that jumped from birds to humans has increased fears that another avian flu crisis might be looming. . . . Read more

Thermidor in Ukraine?
September 28, 2005
The recent dissolution of the government in Ukraine has prompted fears that President Viktor Yushchenko might be straying from the precepts of the Orange Revolution he helped lead last year. . . . Read more

Last Responders
September 14, 2005
Hurricane Katrina's ravages in the Gulf Coast earlier this month have left many foreign policy experts questioning the Department of Homeland Security's capacity to prevent or limit the damages of a large-scale terrorist attack on the United States. . . . Read more

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